Learn SEO

We’ve compiled our very own resources that will enable you to learn SEO. SEO in and of itself is a culmination of multiple industries and techniques, such as: server administration, coding, HTML/CSS, copy, and everything in between. We also blog about SEO at least once a week, so be sure to check out our SEO blog.

Before you go any farther, we’re going to say something a lot of people don’t want to hear, but is a very key piece of advice: listen to Google. Start by reading, and fully digesting Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. In addition, Google has also put together a guide to a Google friendly website. While you are there, you should also read Google’s getting started guide to mobile friendly websites. It is well worth the time. Again, don’t just skim these pages, take your time to fully understand them.

Learn On-Page SEO

Our on-page SEO guides is one of the most thorough guides to learning on-page SEO on the web. We cover all on-page SEO techniques from internal linking to content to anchor text. If you are looking for a quick on-page SEO checklist, this can be handy when doing a quick on-page audit on your website.

Image optimization isn’t just about alt tags. There are many factors when it comes down to optimizing an image for search engines. But image optimization shouldn’t stop at search engines, you should optimize them for people as well. Learn more about image optimization in our guide.

A lot of SEO’s don’t realize that internal linking is actually part of on-page SEO, not off-page SEO. Understanding basic internal linking strategies is one of the most important aspects of learning search engine optimization, in particular on-page SEO.

A well optimized robots.txt file can make or break your website. In essence, the robots.txt file is one of the only files on your website that Google actually “listens to.” Learn more about Google bot, Google’s crawling, and crawl budgets in our robots.txt and meta robots guide.

A lot of people don’t realize that learning SEO is a lot about learning about servers. Websites live on servers, and SEO is all about optimizing websites, right? In this section of the guide we take a deep look into server optimization, and what role that plays in learning SEO.

A URL or permalink can not only be a huge SEO signal, but can help drive more traffic to your website as well. A properly optimized permalink can either turn people off, or bring in more people to your website. Like all things in this guide, it might actually be a huge signal as well.

If you read any guide about learning search engine optimization, chances are meta descriptions will be one of the biggest focuses. While we believe meta descriptions do play a role in SEO, we believe it is only one small part of a greater whole.

The majority of the time, the title tag is the first part of the page that most people see. Title tags also play a large role in SEO, no matter what type of site you have. A lot of non-SEO’s overlook this part of a website, but they are essential to any SEO campaign.

If you’ve been around the SEO game for long enough, surely you’ve heard the terms “h1″ or h2” after a while. These headings not only help separate a page into different parts, but are also a factor in SEO as well. Learn how to write headings, and how to truly make them pop.

One of the most popular topics in SEO in 2017 right now is structured data, schema markup, and JSON-LD. Within this section of the guide, we’ll get you up to speed on these topics and give you everything you need to learn about structured data, and how it relates to learning search engine optimization.

One of the biggest parts of SEO is backlinks, and one of the biggest parts of a backlink is anchor text optimization. If you read any SEO report or software like Ahrefs or Moz, one of the biggest sections of focus is anchor text optimization.

Within any SEO campaign is content, and one of the best ways to add content is to get a blog running. Blogging is now a mega industry and something that all SEO’s should be taking advantage of, no matter how obscure the niche.

The debate is now over, your website must be responsive or mobile friendly if you want to put your hat in the SEO ring. Learn about responsiveness, and what role it plays in learning SEO. A responsive website will conform to whatever device you are using.

When most folks think about content, they think text, but content is much more than that. Content can be contextual, content can be an image, a video, or even an audio file. Learn how to take advantage of content on your website, and how to optimize your content for search engine optimization.

We’ve met SEO’s that spend days or even weeks optimizing their websites for page speed. Google has come out and stated that page speed is actually a ranking signal. It is also a huge factor when it comes to user experience. If you are interested in learning more about site speed optimization, check out our guide to WordPress speed optimization.

Take part in any SEO discussion, and chances are ‘keywords’ will be one of the first words that comes up. When learning SEO and about keywords, keyword proximity, keyword density, and keyword prominence are huge factor in on-page SEO and getting websites ranked.

A domain name is more or less a permanent decision when it comes to a website, so make sure you made the right one. Learn more about how domain names play a role in SEO and ranking, and what you can do to increase your odds. Also learn about Google’s EMD update and how it could affect your website.

Social media is a category in and of itself when it comes to internet marketing, but still plays an important role when it comes to on-page optimization. Learn more about social media, and social sharing and how it plays into on-page search engine optimization.

At the core of any website, is HTML, CSS and most of the time JavaScript. These are the building blocks of the web, and play a vital function in SEO. Learn about these languages and how they can help you in your on-page optimization. Google has made a lot of changes in the last few years regarding how it crawls (or doesn’t crawl) JavaScript, be sure to rush up on the latest technologies.

While the rel=canonical tag might not be a ranking factor in SEO, it does play a vital role in on-page optimization. Learn what rel=canonical does, and why you need it on your website. If you publish your content on multiple sources, learning about the rel=canonical tag is a must learn.

Advertising in and of itself isn’t an on-page SEO factor, but it can ruin your day if not properly implemented. Also learn more about Google Panda, and how it interacts with advertising on your website.

An XML sitemap helps guide Google along the way when crawling your website. Find out how to make an XML sitemap, and some common pitfalls with creating a traditional sitemap. Also learn some common pitfalls when creating and optimizing XML sitemaps online.

Learn Other SEO Topics

Be sure to check back often, as we are constantly adding to our “learn SEO” library.